That we are in the age of Big Data is already a reality. New bases that are causing a deep change in the industry, promoting a technological adaptation in different business sectors and creating new projects and products.
Collecting, handling and analyzing huge amounts of data is a disruptive element that helps us to interpret and better understand the information, allowing us to make better decisions, obtain future forecasts and generate new markets.
In addition to having a large volume of data stored for years with information of all kinds, both public and private, we live in an era in which more data is generated, with more diversity and from any corner of the world, but we do not always take advantage of the elements that are provided, adversely affecting the accuracy of the results and decision making, an essential factor to take into account is the location.
Everything happens somewhere
We're surrounded by sensors on all sides. Urban environments are full of detectors that can capture data such as weather information, traffic, parking, humidity, light, pollution, passing by... and of course the information we generate with our smartphones, making each of us a sensor that links all our activity to an exact place on the planet. In all areas, such as commercial, demographic, real estate or economic, we can obtain information linked to a location, and all these sources of information allow us to relate data in a spatial way, thus obtaining new relevant information.
About 80% of the data occurs somewhere and only 10% of this information is taken into account in decision making. Visualizing the data on a map provides us with a powerful tool for making analyses and drawing conclusions.
Thus, geolocalized data allows us to make visible and synthesize new information that would be impossible otherwise, establishing relationships by their locations, conditions, trends, routes and patterns in space.
GIS systems are completely changing information management, as spatial representation is a value for all business areas that allows data to be managed efficiently, to discover and understand our world with new information, and to make better business decisions.
Endless applications
Visualizing spatial data is a core value for businesses and provides the ability to leverage that data with a list of applications as diverse as the data available. Sectors as diverse as insurance, finance, health, environment or communication are discovering the potential of geospatial information.
The analysis and geographical representation of the data can be used, for example, to recommend an entrepreneur the most appropriate place to open his business based on components such as purchasing power, population density or the flow of movement of people in the area. To be able to effectively establish mobility plans or understand the impact of an electoral debate, understand the migratory system of birds or the movement of tides, establish predictive models on how a city will grow, which properties are more likely to be robbed or how a disease will spread.
The diversity of information and the combination with elements such as location, relationships between data or the time component opens up an infinite range of possibilities for analysis, improving the interpretation of results and generating information that would otherwise be difficult to identify.
Many good applications and geographic information systems (GIS) are now available to visually capture this data. Among them, the formerly Spanish and now American startup CARTO, leader in the analysis and visualization of geolocalized data, which allows the discovery and prediction of key information in a simple, intuitive, powerful and elegant design. It focuses on the universalization of the analysis and visualization techniques, allowing to make the maps actionable tools for the day to day in the different departments of each company. Currently, CARTO has more than 200,000 users and 1,500 clients among which important companies such as AXA, BBVA, Google, New York City Hall, Twitter, IBM or Nasa stand out.
